I well recall as a kid being scared to death listening to the Radio Moscow propaganda sessions and then there was the Moscow Mailbag- I think a lot of those letter were made up in order to forward the Communist agenda of the day- but scarey stuff to an 11 year old, never the less.

Dale W4OP

Yup, as a kid growing up in the 50's and 60's it seemed like those broadcasts from Radio Moscow were coming from an entirely different planet. I can even remember wondering if they might be pulling names out of a phone book to make fake letters for their "Mailbag" series. I was worried that they might use my family's name and feature us in one of their typically treasonous sounding inquiries. "Rob from Connecticut in the USA writes in wondering if it would be possible for his family to visit Moscow to learn more about how he might become a citizen of the Soviet Union." Looking back now, it was pretty funny stuff. I notice that there seem to be very few recordings of the old Radio Moscow broadcasts floating around on the internet. That's kind of a shame as it was an interesting window into the relentless propaganda war of that time. I can still remember the relentless "Russian Wheat Reports" droning on and on. "Congratulations to the workers at Collective 746 for once again exceeding their quota for wheat production this month. Their hard work has made it possible for the Soviet Union to become a world leader in the export of grain to many needy nations." Of course the reality was that they were importing massive quantities of grain from the U.S. and elsewhere because their farm system was not able to meet the needs of their country.

I guess I never heard what you did on Radio Moscow (now the Voice of Russia). We used to listen to it in the late 60's/very early 70's, and we thought all that silly propaganda talk was hilarious.

In the early 1980s a friend had a old tube SW radio and some wire strung out his window, and we used to listen to Radio Moscow pretty regularly. We sent in a reception report, but instead of a QSL card we got what can only be described as a propaganda package. Lots of pamphlets describing the bountiful agricultural/industrial output of the glorious workers' paradise and other garbage. We loved going through it and thought it was hilarious too. I think we were about 12 or 13.

Interestingly, what I remember most was that the package had obviously already been opened and rooted through by someone. Shouldn't have been much of a surprise though at that time. I was just recently joking with that friend that we should do FOIA requests for copies of our FBI files.

Hi there. Radio Nederland is going off SW tonight forever, insofar as English language broadcasts are concerned. Rats! Their last broadcast from Bonaire is tonight, at 0200 on 6165 mHz. I'll be there for sure. Radio Canada International stopped its shortwave broadcasts for good a few days ago. Radio Sweden, Radio Prague, and Radio Bulgaria have also stopped in the last year or so.

But Radio Australia is great and very loud in the mornings here, as is Radio Japan (although that's for the time being relayed from Canada), and Radio Espana Exterior has a wonderful program in the evening. You can still listen to Radio Vietnam, Vatican Radio, Radio New Zealand, and the BBC, as well as other broadcasters. The Voice of Russia has a big signal, too, as does Radio China International. Radio Romania also has a very strong signal and frequent broadcasts to North America.

The Ontario DX Club has a really good website and several monthly newsletters and program guides. They're on the web, and Harold Sellers puts together a very nice chart each month that shows the times for all the English language broadcasts.

It's not like the old days, but, for the time being anyway, there's still stuff to listen to. I've been listening to Radio Nederland for the past 41 years, and I am very, very sad that it's disappearing. It was listening to their SW broadcasts that introduced me to ham radio a long time ago.

Thanks for the info on Radio Nederlands. I'll definitely try to tune into that tonight and see if I can at least hear bits and pieces of it.

If I remember correctly, Radio Bulgaria used to have a music hour in English once a week on shortwave. I used to listen to that. I was wondering if they had gone silent since I haven't been able to find them.

It's really a shame that shortwave broadcasts are going silent ... at least for the English language broadcasts anyway. I understand that it costs money to operate the stations and that the Internet is a primary source of information now, but ...

I don't think you're late to the hobby per se, but I think its a different audience the broadcasters are after and, if you're still interested, a bit of a challenge to hear. For instance, Radio Habana Cuba is easy to find as is China Radio International or the Voice of Russia. But it will be a bit more challenging to get a good signal from the Voice of Vietnam simply because they don't have the money for huge antennas, transmitters, staff and relay contracts. But V. of Vietnam may be a bit more interesting for the little time they broadcast in English to North America, which according to primetimeshortwave.com, isn't too often.

I understand how we all may feel about shortwave being a shadow of it's former self, especially with the Beeb ending service to NA. No more hovering over the Hallicrafters S-40A in the shack. But take heart, there are still lots of things to listen to, just in places we never thought of before.

You're right. There are still a lot of stations to listen to...just not as many as in the good old days. I still listen regularly to the BBC on shortwave, although they don't broadcast to North America. Many of their transmissions to Africa and elsewhere are perfectly strong here. Still listen to Deutsche Welle too. And once in a while, when I need a chuckle, I enjoy listening to Radio Habana Cuba, broadcasting from "the last free territory in the Americas," or however it's phrased. You can always count on RHC to have an unconventional and refreshing perspective about something the US has done--kind of a reprise of Cold War propaganda. And I am thankful for broadcasters like Radio Espana Exterior and Radio Australia, which have excellent programming and come blasting in here on the East Coast.

As the world spirals into the next world war I like to listen to the probable combatants. Voice of Russia and China Radio International wich can be found just about any time on hf, and Iran as the "Voice of Justice" nightly at 0330Z on 11920 and // on 13650. It's like 1938 all over again but this time with better receivers and icbms.

Logged

If you have a clumsy child, you make them wear a helmet. If you have death prone children, you keep a few clones of them in your lab.

Ethnic Music from several different countries is still on...Romania is still strong...My favorite is Radio Greece on 7.475 and 9.420 at night. You dont have to be a fan...It's just neat to hear what others listen to regularly. The Greek music reminds me of the dozens of Greek restaurants I've dined in all over Europe! HI!

yeah Ernie and not to mention Croatia via Germany on 9925kHz in the 0300utc hour (when I get it best here) and all that Spanish music out of S. America and Spain. Even Australia plays a good variety of their own style music.

I've been listening off and on to SW since the late 1960's and the main difference now is the bands are a little less crowded now with the disappearing international broadcasters, and there are less broadcasts to the U.S. in English. I sort of miss the Radio Moscow World Service of the 1980's, because during that period they had more features on then-Soviet Central Asia, and played a lot of music from that area of the world.

Radio Australia and Radio New Zealand are still interesting to listen to (although Radio Australia was more interesting in the 70's and 80's because they played more music back then), and the BBC's broadcasts in English to Asia are still audible in the U.S. I listen to the Spanish and Portuguese broadcasts from Radiobras and Radio Exterior De Espana for the music, and to me the languages are interesting. NHK has some cool music sometimes during the morning on 31 meters.

During the winter I hear a lot of different countries with good signals on 41, 49, and 31 meters, including programming to and from South Asia and the Middle East.

The shortwaves are still interesting, just interesting in a different way than they were when I started listening to SW. There also is still a lot to hear on the ham bands; the ham bands are as busy as they were ten or twenty years ago. Listening to the hams is a great way to hear the world.

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